OSU’s Upset Bid Falls Short

Baylor University’s coach Kim Mulkey had seen enough. 

Under four minutes into the game, the Lady Bears’ coach removed her two star post players, Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox.

BU’s ability to weather an early storm from the Oklahoma State Cowgirls allowed the Lady Bears to escape Gallagher-Iba Arena with a 66-58 Big 12 win.

The No. 1-ranked team in the country trailed just 4-2 when Mulkey took Brown and Cox out of the game, but OSU had all the momentum and was controlling the flow of the game.

The Lady Bears’ duo came into the game accounting for more than 27 points per game, but Mulkey turned to Queen Egbo and Nalyssa Smith for a spark.

That experiment didn’t last long because Mulkey said she needs a veteran out on the court at nearly all time, but she said it helped her team become less stagnant.

“The way they were defending us, I felt like we were just standing and watching and thinking all of a sudden the sea was going to part in that lane and Kalani was going to be wide open,” Mulkey said. “You gotta create your own offense sometimes athletically.”

OSU coach Jim Littell said he was proud of how his team understood and executed the game plan, which included a lot of double teams in the post and good defensive rotation.

Mulkey echoed Littell’s sentiments about the effectiveness of OSU’s game plan.

“I told coach Littell after the game, ‘Your kids executed your game plan to a T,’” Mulkey said. “‘If they play like that every night, they’re going to win a lot of basketball games.’ I just thought their defense, what they tried to eliminate us from doing, was very good.”

That rotation was something sophomore forward Vivian Gray said she thought was effective despite the Cowgirls not using it much this season.

“We had just started that a few days ago so I actually think we did pretty well,” Gray said. 

Fellow sophomore guard Braxtin Miller said Baylor’s ability to pass from the post made the Cowgirls pick which they wanted to stop first, which was the Lady Bears’ post presence.

“You gotta give and take some things,” Miller said. “So it’s a 3 or an and-1 layup sometimes and you kind of just gotta decide what’s higher percentage and play out from it.

“We did a pretty good job and there’s only so much you can do.”

Gray said she was shocked to find out she finished with a double-double because it was such a team effort to block out Baylor’s big bodies. She has 11 boards to go with 12 points.

Despite seven players pulling down at least one rebound and four team rebounds, the Cowgirls lost the total rebounding battle 49-31. Mulkey said that did not surprise her.

“It was very obvious their game plan was to be physical, knock the crap out of us and we’ve seen that before, too, pack the paint,” Mulkey said. “So it’s not unusual for us to shoot that many free throws when we see that defense quite often.”

Baylor’s size advantage also led to a big discrepancy in fouls and free throw attempts. The Lady Bears shot 20 more free throws than the Cowgirls.

Mulkey pointed to the fact that teams play a lot of players and try to play physical with Brown and Cox, which results in a high free throw number. The Cowgirls played all 11 who dressed and 8 of them recorded at least one foul.

“We should out-rebound a lot of teams as big as we are,” Mulkey said. “I’d like to see us get more offensive rebounds.”

Freshman point guard Ja’Mee Asberry was on fire through the first three quarters. She led all scorers with 22 points, all coming before the fourth. She also had 3 boards, 3 assists and a game-high 4 steals.

“What I liked about her game is that she had the courage to take shots, played with no fear against the No. 1 team in the country,” Littell said. “Sometimes that no-fear gets you in trouble, but it also shows signs of what she’s capable of.”

Littell said the next thing for Asberry is using this performance to try to build consistency, which is something the Cowgirls as a whole are searching for.

Gray said she thinks the Cowgirls played better against ranked opponents and Miller said she thinks the team needs to treat every opponent like that for the rest of the year.

“[The performance] will definitely build confidence into the next few games,” Miller said. “One thing that’s just going to be super important is going out every game as if it’s Baylor to us, and showing that effort and that intensity and that confidence.”